


Sea Chord

by mesonyx



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Genre: F/M, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon, Yuletide, Yuletide 2014
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-23
Updated: 2014-12-23
Packaged: 2018-03-02 23:54:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2830610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mesonyx/pseuds/mesonyx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It started as a nothing more than a fling, really. He was cute and she was pretty. She was young and he was restless. They were in a band. That's all there was to it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sea Chord

**Author's Note:**

  * For [woggy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/woggy/gifts).



> Many thanks to [Mehuric](http://mehuric.tumblr.com/) and [bookcat](http://archiveofourown.org/users/bookcat) for the beta!
> 
> Written as a gift for woggy. Hope you enjoy! Happy Yuletide!

Mikau’s guitar sits on a stand in the corner of her room where it’s out of the way, kept out of view, gathering dust. Out of sight, out of mind - that was the idea, at least. But Lulu can’t shake his image from her head. She can’t escape the sound of his voice ringing in her ears.

His sons look just like him - same markings, same yellow fins on head and arms and feet.

Their daughter (named Lulu, just as her mother and her mother and her mother before her)) is the only one to notice the instrument. The child knows it’s used to create music - she’s seen Japas play the bass, and it’s similar enough that she can figure it out from there. She doesn’t know that it once belonged to her father. She doesn’t know it was once used to mark his grave.

“What are you doing?” Lulu cries out when she sees her daughter. The guitar is slung across her narrow shoulders, straps so long it nearly touches the ground. The girl has grabbed the neck in one hand and with the other clumsily attempts to pluck at the strings, so out of tune they create a jarring, discordant squeal.

“This is not a toy!” Lulu insists. “This is not for playing!” She snatches it from the girl’s hand with a ferocity that frightens her, and she immediately regrets it.

It’s the first time she’s held the guitar in years, though, and it sends the memories of their romance surging back through her mind.

 

 

It started as a nothing more than a fling, really. He was cute and she was pretty. She was young and he was restless. They were in a band. That's all there was to it.

But the more time they spent together, the more Lulu found herself falling for him. 

When Evan found out, he was initially wary, but after a while he encouraged it. "A little romantic drama could really help fuel my songwriting," he said. 

"And besides,” Toto added, “it gets all the fans interested in the behind-the-scenes. The publicity could really help us sell some tickets _and_ do some creative merchandising.”

Lulu had been the one to bring up the future. Where do you see yourself in one year? Two? Five? Ten?

_Geez, Lulu, I don't know. I can't even see what I'm doing next week._

What about marriage? What about family?

_Those things really don't blend with the rock 'n roll lifestyle, you know._

They weren’t the kind of answers she wanted to hear, but having Mikau temporarily, she decided, was better than not having him at all. She tried not to expect too much from him, but inside she knew her heart was bound to break.

 

 

The younger Lulu looks like she is about to cry. Her eyes grow wide and watery. Her lip trembles. Her shoulders begin to shiver back and forth. Then she lets forth a wail that would, in a slightly different universe, put even Princess Ruto to shame - one long, unwavering note, held with perfection. It is clear that this child comes from a long line of singers.

“Is something wrong?” asks a voice at the door. It’s Tijo, the band’s drummer. “Or are you two getting some practice in?”

“It’s nothing,” Lulu replies. She still holds the guitar in her hands.

“I’m glad to see you picking it up again,” Tijo says, pointing. “Mikau would have liked that.”

Mikau _would_ have liked that, Lulu thinks. She can’t be angry at her daughter anymore. She is only angry at herself.

 

 

“Hey singer girl.” Mikau liked to call her that. He wasn’t very good with pet names. “Tijo and I are having a jam session, wanna come hang?” or “Hey singer girl, let’s get something to eat, all right?” or “Singer girl, these tapas are delicious.”

At the time, it was annoying. She wished he’d just call her by her name, like everyone else.

No one called her “singer girl” anymore. It stung more than she could have imagined.

 

 

Lulu turns back to her daughter, guitar still in hand.

“I’m sorry I got upset,” she says. “This instrument is very special to me, because it belonged to someone very special once. I don’t want you or your brothers to play with it.”

“But an instrument is meant to be played,” the girl replies, sniffling. “Everyone else in the band says so.”

Lulu considers explaining why _this_ instrument is so special, and why it should _never_ be touched _ever_ again, but the words can’t come out. They don’t make any sense. Her daughter is right.

 

 

“Hey singer girl,” he’d said to her one day when she was acting strange. “Is something wrong?”

She should have told him then what the problem was. She should have told him she was a descendant of the Great Bay Protector, and that something bad was going to happen. She should have told him about the eggs. She should have told him about _their_ eggs.

But she couldn’t tell him any of it. She was too scared - too scared of asking too much of him, too scared of losing him, too scared of chasing him away. So she stayed silent, even when the eggs were stolen from her, even when she desperately needed to ask for his help.

 

 

“If you can get Japas to give you lessons,” Lulu decides, “I will let you use the guitar.”

The girl is overjoyed, and runs out of the room right away to find the Indigo-Go bass guitarist. Lulu sits down on her bed and lays the guitar across her lap. She idly presses her fingers against the strings and frets in the neck while strumming. Third fret, second string. Second fret, third string. First fret, fifth string.

It sounds awful.

But it makes her smile.

 

 

The last time she’d seen Mikau had been very strange. He’d been the one to recover her eggs and bring them to the Marine Research Lab, where they’d safely hatched. He’d been the one to solve whatever issue was troubling the Great Bay. He’d done so much more for her than she’d ever thought possible, and all in the span of a few short days.

In those few short days, though, he never said a thing to her. He’d played her the song her mother used to sing for her, the New Wave Bossa Nova, but he hadn’t said so much as a “Hey singer girl” to her in all that time.

Still, she didn’t press him. They had a gig at the Carnival of Time in Clock Town, and she could wait to speak to him until after that.

But afterwards she did not see him again. After their set, he simply vanished.

The Indigo-Gos returned back to the Great Bay the next day. The other band members were in good spirits after their performance, but Lulu was dismayed. It wasn’t until she visited the Marine Research Lab to see her newly hatched children that she noticed a small monument on the shore with the Mikau’s guitar strapped to it.

_Herein lies Mikau, the legendary guitarist of the Zora tribe._

When she read the inscription she staggered backwards from surprise, and clutched the collar of her halter dress. “When did this… how…”

The Professor stood behind her, catching her as she nearly fainted. “It was a few days ago,” he told her. “One of your people was gravely injured. I heard it had something to do with the pirates.”

Lulu lifted her hand to her mouth in shock.

“Are you all right, dear?” the Professor asked. “You look as though you’ve seen a ghost.”

 

 

Little Lulu, as it turns out, has inherited the talents of both her parents. It’s not long before she’s developed into a strong vocalist as well as an adept guitar player. Japas shows her the chords, while Lulu teaches her the lyrics of Mikau’s favorite songs.

“For my punch of anger…” little Lulu says, trying to finger the neck correctly to match the music. “Sharp fins are the mark of the Zora!”

There’s a round of applause from the Indigo-Go’s and all of little Lulu’s brothers, who gather for impromptu recitals once in a while. 

“Your father would be proud of you,” Lulu tells her daughter, placing her hand on her shoulder. “Singer girl.”


End file.
